Too tired to watch more DVDs, I upgraded software on my home laptop: Skype, iTune, Quicktime, and the latest virus definitions. I'm never the first to be an early adopter in these cases; I procrastinate too much.

Just yesterday, I realised that this laptop has served me for over 3 years now. The system specifications are no longer as good as they were then, and sometimes it drove me crazy how slow my system could crawl. But it is a good machine, and it still serves me well. I've never had need for any external keyboard, mouse or monitor for my laptop; instead the laptop is all I've required.

Thank you old friend.

Work sucked today. Wouldn't bore everyone with details, but suffice to say that I hate it when people don't deliver their promises, and more so when I have no leverage over them.

I was over-optimistic about having recovered, and worse still, you've got the beginnings of a bad throat. :( I never meant to spread it to you, and I feel bad though you waved it off.

The weekend can't come soon enough.

I told my dentist that my teeth started shifting when I stopped wearing retainers, and she explained calmly that some people need to wear retainers for the rest of their lives.

I don't want to be one of these people.

Things didn't go as planned this weekend.

The bad throat gathered momentum and became a full-fledged fever and cold. Dinner reservations on Friday were cancelled and I left office 2 hours earlier on medical leave, only to continue with a work teleconference later. You made me soup and cooked dinner, and I only recovered properly on Sunday morning (to watch 5 and a half DVDs, haha).

Didn't sleep well last night due to a burning sensation in my throat. Visited the doctor this morning and asked for a double dosage of lozenges so I could tide through the teleconferences today. And I made it.

Project should be delivered on schedule with the kind support of my clients, despite their existing heavy workload.
Lesson learnt today:
If you do your best for people, they will do their best for you.
(well, most of the time)

It seldom happens that any felicity comes so pure as not to be tempered and allayed by some mixture of sorrow.
- Miguel de Cervantes

Blogging doesn't adequately explain my life, but I'm in a peaceful state of mind now.
I'm reading very slowly, but I'm still reading.
I've watched over 60 films to date this year, and that's probably my lowest count in years. You've watched only a fraction of those with me, and yet you've already exceeded your previous quota for the year.
We cooked our first fried kway teow last week, and this week we're buying a rice cooker, so we can cook rice finally.
There are still so many places we have to eat at, and so many places to visit.

Life is good, and I'm thankful.

Baking analogy at work today.
We didn't know the size of the cake we need to bake, and asked the client to tell us how many people we were supposed to feed. The client sent back detailed health guidelines explaining how much cake is good for an individual's diet, but failed to answer the question.

Ga.

I was squatting on the balls of my feet, trying to pack my bag on the floor. You walked over and casually nudged me till I tipped over momentarily. I thought it was an accident and righted myself to balance precariously again, before you nudged me another time. I looked up to protest and saw your mischievous smiling face, and I felt so much love for you right that instant.

Haven't blogged in a while as I was away working in Philippines. Landed on Friday night and promptly made up for my absence by visiting the two most popular locations in this country on Saturday. Yup, I went to the National Library booksale at the Expo (where I proceeded to queue for an hour just to pay for 2 books!), and to see fireworks at Esplanade (where my view was partially blocked by trees, and I lost all my friends).

Still, it's good to be home.

You remind me of a cat when you eat fish.
How you remained fearless with a mouthful of fish bones, and your eyes narrowed in pleasure as you revelled in sucking on them. I could imagine you licking your paws happily after a satisfying dish.

I could order fish, just to watch you eat.

Though we don't watch TV, the two of us become reality TV junkies when we travel, and we'll sit, watching incredulously as the drama unfolds on TV. We didn't realise there could be a contest for how long people could last on a date (contestants earn $1 every minute they survive on a first date, and they'll need to give up this money if they want to proceed on a second date?). Or how long people could last, pretending they were going to get married (in "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance").

Your arms
On days like this
you're a seatbelt
a safety harness
I want to strap myself in
as tight as possible.

I woke at 4am because I felt my teeth shifting. I've been wearing retainers on my teeth for years and it's only the past 2-3 weeks that I've stopped wearing them. I thought my teeth are sure of where they're supposed to be, but regretfully, they have decided to realign themselves. The strange thing is, the shift is so tiny that it's not detectable by anyone else but me. Sigh.

Since I'm up, I thought I'd do a brief update on my life so far. My schedule is more packed than sardines in a can. Actually, it's more like sardines in two cans trying to fit into one.

I've got events and activites everyday since my return, right up to my flight to Philippines on Sunday morning. I'll be working through National Day and come home in a week's time. And that, I think, should be my last trip anywhere for a few months yet.

Oh, and you've told friends that I pack like a man (very minimalistic). I guess the fear of losing luggage again has made me paranoid about packing anything that can't pass off as hand luggage.

Time to go back to bed.